The Lee High School debate coach recently earned a University Interscholastic League Sponsor Award, given to only 15 educators a year statewide. She was nominated for the laurel by Lee High School Principal Stephanie Howard and recognized during the March 9 school board meeting.

"Cindy has a strong program every year that is very competitive at the state and national levels due to her commitment and dedication to the program," Howard said in an e-mail. "She spends countless hours and gets her students to compete at high levels. She is responsible for continuing the traditions of the Lee debate program."

Wiebusch said building on the strengths of the program was one of her main objectives.

"That's a real honor to me because every school does UIL from 1 through 5A and everything in between," Wiebusch said. "… I've been very fortunate to have principals who support my program and endorse my efforts."

Her debate team members compete in Texas Forensic Association events in the fall and winter and UIL in spring.

"Our participation in UIL I believe is my students' way to pay back the school," she said. "When you come to UIL, it's the school's success."

Eleven students competed in five UIL contests at the district meet March 24 at Texas Tech University.

The five contests include Lincoln-Douglass debates, informative speaking, persuasive speaking — both of which are extemporaneous, prose interpretation and poetry interpretation.

The team took first and second place in the Lincoln-Douglas debate at the UIL district meet. Lee High School senior Nolberto Zubia got first place and Arjun Mocherla, a sophomore, took second. Mocherla placed fifth in Persuasive Speaking and Sager patel was seventh in Informative Speaking. These are non-qualifying finals positions. Only the top three go to regionals.

Zubia and Mocherla qualified for regionals, which are April 23-24 at Tech, and plan to compete in the National Forensic League competition in Kansas City, Mo., in June, she said.

"I have some kids that most definitely could go to state, but our competition increases because we have El Paso schools and many of the Dallas area schools in our region," Wiebusch said.

Wanting to take the spotlight off herself, Wiebusch said she inherited a strong program and one of her main objectives was to keep it that way. She has taken her students to UIL five times and taken a student to regionals every year during her tenure. Lee High School has taken students to nationals 34 times. The school will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010-2011 and has been participating in debate since 1976.

She said the program would not be as effective without the extensive travel.

"What I do is what everybody else does and some of them are better at it than I am," she said. "… I'm just facilitating these kids in their endeavors. … I'm the only person on that bus who doesn't compete."

Wiebusch, who first attended Texas Tech University, has a bachelor's degree in education in the teaching fields of communications and English from McMurry University in Abilene and a master's from Tech in reading.

She has taught at Lee for 13 years and been involved in debate for 11. She taught six years at first and then stayed home with her kids for 17 years. "Education had really changed in that time," Wiebusch said, adding she went to debate camp for two years to learn what she needed to know.